UK special relationship with US is dead, say MPsPosted by Jamie at 8 32 PM on Saturday, March 27

BRITAIN’S special relationship with America is dead, MPs say today.

A new report says our relationship is no more special than the links a string of other countries enjoy with the US.

And the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee says we should stop sucking up to the Yanks and learn to say “No”.

It says the government was seen as a “subservient poodle” in the run-up to the Iraq war.

The powerful committee has carried out an inquiry into UK—US relations.And it says we should no longer call the relationship “special”.It says our influence over Washington will diminish further.

But it warns the government it is making a mistake by making savage cuts to the Foreign Office’s US network.

Committee chairman Mike Gapes said: “The UK needs to adopt a more hard-headed political approach towards our relationship with the US with a realistic sense of our own limits and our national interests.

“Certainly the UK must continue to position itself closely alongside the US but there is a need to be less deferential and more willing to say no where our interests diverge.

“The UK and US have a close and valuable relationship. But the use of the phrase ‘the special relationship’ in its historical sense, to describe the totality of the ever-evolving UK-US relationship, is potentially misleading, and we recommend that its use should be avoided.

“Yes, we have a special relationship with the US, but we must remember that so too do other countries including regional neighbours, strategic allies and partners. British and European politicians have been guilty of over-optimism about the extent of influence they have over the US.”